Evaluating the effects of four-day school weeks on child and family health, well-being, and socioeconomic factors

项目摘要 学校是促进儿童健康、学习和福祉的关键场所。然而，前所未有的下降， 在州教育方面，资金迫使许多美国学区考虑削减成本措施，以缓解 预算压力。使用每周四天学校(FDSW)作为一种潜在的节约成本的策略已经 在过去的二十年里，美国增长了630%，尽管关于这一战略如何实现的数据非常缺乏 影响儿童和家庭的健康和福祉。每周少上一天课会减少接触 学校日的体育活动机会、校餐计划、学术指导和其他支持 可能影响儿童健康行为、社会情绪发展、心理健康、危险行为、 和教育程度。通过外籍妇女获得学校服务的机会减少也可能增加儿童保育 需求，这可能会改变家庭劳动参与决定和/或影响分配给 食物。这项拟议的R21研究召集了一个由公共卫生、经济学和 合作推广，以产生FDSW对儿童和家庭结果产生影响的一些首批证据 在两个目标上使用定量和定性的方法。对于目标1，我们将把现有的俄勒冈州和 国家数据集到我们专有的国家FDSW纵向数据集，用于比较 四天和五天学校模式，包括儿童健康行为(例如，饮食、体育活动)、危险行为 (如犯罪、吸毒)、社会情感因素、成就、出勤率、毕业/辍学决定、 以及体育教育、家庭劳动决策和食品安全。对于目标2，我们将利用 与俄勒冈州学校持续合作，在四天和五天学校与家庭开展重点小组 将家庭的FDSW经验与背景联系起来，并探索目标1调查结果背后的机制。 俄勒冈州拥有第四高密度的FDSW学区，代表着进行这一工作的强大环境 研究。我们的中心假设是，儿童和家庭的健康和福祉将受到 与五天制学校相比，FDSW的使用减少了对学术指导和其他学校的接触- 基于支持的服务。我们的长期目标是了解学校环境如何影响儿童和 家庭健康和幸福。R21提案的目标是提供有关影响的新证据 通过FDSWs减少在学校的暴露。到目前为止，主要有两种衡量标准 采用FDSW的影响：成本效益和学业成就。我们承担责任的理由 该项目将扩展到这些指标之外，以提供关于以下潜在影响的关键证据 在儿童和家庭健康和福祉方面采用FDSW，以解决这一重大的证据差距。我们预计 我们对FDSW对儿童和家庭的影响的估计将改变利益相关者定义优点的方式 以及FDSW的不足之处。我们发现的主要积极影响是通过以下方式及时提供证据 开展广泛的宣传活动，为可能对儿童成绩产生重大影响的学校政策行动提供信息。

Project Summary Schools are critical settings to promote child health, learning, and wellbeing. However, unprecedented declines in state education funding have forced many US school districts to consider cost-cutting measures to alleviate budgetary pressures. Use of the four-day school week (FDSW) as a potential cost-saving strategy has increased 630% in the US over the last two decades despite a significant lack of data on how this strategy impacts child and family health and wellbeing. Losing one day of school per week diminishes exposure to school-day physical activity opportunities, school meal programs, academic instruction, and other support services, which may affect child health behaviors, socioemotional development, mental health, risk behaviors, and educational attainment. Reduced access to school services via FDSWs also may increase childcare needs, which may alter family labor participation decisions and/or impact household resources allocated to food. This proposed R21 study convenes an interdisciplinary team of experts in public health, economics, and Cooperative Extension to generate some of the first evidence of FDSW impacts on child and family outcomes using quantitative and qualitative approaches across two aims. For Aim #1, we will link existing Oregon and national datasets to our proprietary national longitudinal dataset of FDSW use to compare outcomes between four- and five-day school models, including child health behaviors (e.g., diet, physical activity), risk behaviors (e.g., crime, substance use), socioemotional factors, achievement, attendance, graduation/dropout decisions, and physical education exposure and family labor decisions and food security. For Aim #2, we will leverage ongoing partnerships with Oregon schools to conduct focus groups with families in four- and five-day schools to contextualize the FDSW experience of families and to probe the mechanisms underlying Aim #1 findings. Oregon has the fourth highest density of FDSW districts and represents a robust setting to conduct this research. Our central hypothesis is that child and family health and wellbeing will be negatively impacted by FDSW use compared to five-day schools due to reduced exposure to academic instruction and other school- based support services. Our long-term goal is to understand how the school environment impacts child and family health and wellbeing. The objective for this R21 proposal is to provide novel evidence about the impacts of reduced school exposure via FDSWs. To date, there have been two metrics predominantly used to weigh the impacts of adopting a FDSW: cost-effectiveness and academic achievement. Our rationale for undertaking this project is to extend beyond these metrics to provide crucial evidence regarding the potential impacts of FDSW adoption on child and family health and wellbeing to address this significant evidence gap. We expect our estimates of the impacts of FDSW on children and families will change how stakeholders define the merits and shortcomings of FDSW. The primary positive impact of our findings is the timely provision of evidence via broad dissemination activities to inform school policy actions that may significantly impact child outcomes.